How To Photograph Your Hometown

In this second instalment in the “Great Subjects” series, we’ll be looking at photographing your hometown. Your quest is to create a series of images that document various aspects of the place you call home.

There are few things that define your life so much as the place where you live. No matter what path your life has taken, you probably have a place that you think of as “home”, whether it’s where you’re living now, where you spent most of your childhood, or a special place where you spend your vacations.

For me, that place is Victoria, British Columbia, so that is where my examples in this post come from.

Places have so many features that this theme can be taken in almost any direction. Streets, buildings, people, infrastructure, natural features, and the surrounding environment all combine to make “your hometown” what it is.

The important thing to focus on for this theme is to ensure your photographs have a sense of place.

The City Centre

When considering this theme, begin by exploring the core of your city. What makes it different than other cities you’ve been to? Maybe it has a unique layout, or a particular style of architecture. Which is the oldest building in town? Which is the newest? What are the main roads, and why? Are there businesses or institutions that define the area, such as commercial complexes, industrial plants, universities, or the like? Think about the main business that drives your town’s economy – is it based on service, tourism, manufacturing, resource extraction (logging, mining, drilling) etc? Try to photograph these places, if you’re able to gain access.

Uptown, Midtown, Downtown

Most medium-sized and larger cities will have several neighbourhoods, each with its own distinct personality. Some might be more affluent while others have more grit; some have history, some culture, some commercial appeal. Spend a bit of time in different districts, documenting the similarities and differences between them, including the style of architecture and décor, and the people who inhabit the area.

Your Haunts

Where do you spend the most time, outside of home and work? Perhaps you have a favourite park, restaurant, coffee shop, or any other place that you like to visit a lot. Rather than setting aside specific times to take pictures, just carry your camera with you as you go about your day-to-day life and shoot the spaces you love to spend time in the most. Your friends and family may play a huge role in this, or you might prefer to capture your personal sanctuaries where you go to escape the hustle and bustle.

Around the House

Your home is your castle, and is worth photographing every bit as much as Buckingham Palace. The place you live in, work in, and sleep in affects your life very deeply, though it can often take a back seat to the things that press on us from the outside.

Creating images of your house, both inside and outside, forces you to look closely at the things that you might not notice in between the rush of work, school, family, and other obligations. It might even inspire you to make positive changes to your living space. Doorways, windows, and long halls all create interesting shapes in a photograph, and the patterns and textures found in the walls, floors, and furniture can make for some lovely compositions. Don’t forget to take time to appreciate your garden and the flowering trees in your yard.

Outskirts

If you’re not already familiar, consult a map to find out exactly where the official borders of your city end. There may be out outlying areas that you rarely visit – this is the perfect opportunity to familiarize yourself with the rural areas and neighbourhoods outside of your usual routes. You can also place yourself in those outlying areas to capture a more distant view of your hometown.

The Locals

Every town has a handful of local characters. There are the eccentrics, like the man with the curly moustache and bright green jacket who reads newspapers at the library each morning, or the lady who walks her pet duck along the main drag. There are the performers – the saxophonist in front of the movie theatre, or the caricature artist in the city park every Sunday. There are the entrepreneurs who run the best local businesses, and the regulars who can always be found there. Who makes a difference in your community? Sometimes you can capture the spirit of a whole village through a portrait of one person.

Environmental portraiture can go a long way in communicating the relationship between a person and the place they live. This type of portrait is made with a wider angle of view and includes the person’s surroundings, giving them a sense of place and context. These compositions can be posed, but often they are more natural candid shots.

You can also photograph the locals doing an activity for which your town is known.

What’s Around?

Maybe you live in a mountainous area, by the sea, or amid a great forest or desert. You might visit these natural places often, or you might hardly see nature from the centre of your busy city life. Either way, you can always take this chance to stop and look around you. Think: if all the buildings in town suddenly disappeared, what type of landscape would you see off in the distance – hills and valleys, the endless ocean, expansive plains? Explore the area outside of the city for more natural inspiration. You might come across nearby lakes, rivers, and trails that offer a wonderful juxtaposition to the glass, metal, and concrete structures that make up modern life.

From Place to Place

As you’re wandering around town, take notice of how you’re getting where you’re going, and how everyone else is getting there, too. Is your city’s transportation system driven by cars along straight streets and avenues, winding roads, or over bridges and through tunnels? Do massive freeway systems dominate the cityscape, or is it made of old country trails? Maybe your town is more bike-friendly, with dedicated lanes and paths, and racks for cyclists to lock up their wheels. Your city might even be small enough to walk wherever you need to go. No matter what sort of infrastructure your town is built on, it can create incredible lines, arches, shapes, and forms in a photograph which tell us a lot about the character of the place you live.

Be a Tourist in Your Hometown

Sometimes it can be tough to view your hometown objectively, especially if you’ve lived in it for a very long time; familiarity with a place can act like a glaze over your eyes that blinds you to its unique character. The more you look at something, the less you really see it.

To combat this type of complacency, try a bit of make believe – next time you go out shooting, pretend that you’re brand new to the area and visualize what it would be like to wander these streets and take in these sights for the first time.

Alternatively, you can imagine that you’re taking a visitor on a tour of the city. What would you show them? What are the hot tourist spots? More importantly, what do you think they’d see?

Sometimes we are so focussed on avoiding touristy areas, that we can forget how nice they really are. It’s like a cliche – there is usually a good reason for it. If you have a tourist spot that is popular in your town, maybe this is a good time to play “tourist in your own hometown” and see what the fuss is about.

Clear your mind, and try to look at the world through a stranger’s eyes. This will help you to see the details that you begin to overlook when you experience the same things every day.

You and Your Hometown

This theme is about photographing your hometown, but there is something in every picture that, though it is present, can’t be directly seen: you!

A city exists on its own, yes, but the way it appears is determined largely by the way you see it, and how it is presented depends on how you choose to show it. Just as your town is defined by its buildings, structure, environment, and residents, it is also partially defined by you (as a resident yourself) and your relationship to it (as the artist rendering the image).

Within the story of your town lies the story of you:

How did you come to live where you do?

Were you born there, or did you move (and if so, why?).

Did you always live in the same house, or did you move around?

Where did you go to school?

Where did you have your first kiss?

Where did you get married?

Where did you bring up your children?

Your hometown is packed with a lifetime of experiences and memories that create pieces of your life’s own narrative. These can be vague or distinct, solid or fleeting, or anywhere in between. Think about these feelings and memories and ask yourself: how can you express your own story in a photograph?

Your Hometown’s History

It’s probably safe to say that your hometown has been around a good deal longer than you have. There were people who lived there long before you, and places within the city that changed throughout time.

What is the history of the city you live in? What year was it founded, why, and by whom? What else was happening at that time? Where were the first houses built, and the first town hall? What about the first train station (or bus station, or even gas station)? Take a trip to your local library or museum to find information on the early formation of the town. Some cities were built around a mine, a trading post, or a port, while others simply served as stops along the road between two other places.

Learning the history of your city helps you to understand why it was made the way it was, and how it became what it is today – how its streets are laid out, how its buildings are constructed, why they placed the fire hall on that corner, etc. It can even give you insight into some hidden parts of the city that aren’t seen so much anymore.

For example, a great fire or earthquake could have leveled some neighbourhoods a century ago, which were then built on top of, preserving the original remains underground. If your city has a historical society, they can be an invaluable resource for insight and inspiration into this theme.

Create a Collage

So much of the feeling of your hometown depends on impression, memory, and emotional association, which can be hard to show in a single frame. If you find yourself getting stuck with traditional compositions, try creating a set of two or three images that work together to convey a more elusive meaning that you’re trying to express.

The images should relate in some significant way, either by complementing or juxtaposing the other through form or content. Often, these are multiple shots of the same scene taken at different times or in different ways, but they can be any set of shots that work to enhance each others’ meaning.

You can display your story telling set of images in a diptych, triptych or collage. If you’re interested in trying this out, there is an excellent website that will help you layout the images (and it’s free). Try picmonkey.com.

Comments

Of course! I lived there for 25 years, so there were lots of opportunities 🙂 I didn’t include any of those in this article though. I should add a new section! Thanks for your visit and comments Elizabeth.

Thanks for a great article! I’ve been wanting to get my name out by trying to get my work displayed in local banks, restaurants, etc., but most of my work is from cruises I’ve been on. With the info from this article, I now have a “battle plan” for what to shoot. Perhaps businesses will be more likely to display my work if it has a local flavor to it.

Hi Skip, I think you are right, businesses are more likely to display photos of the local area since that is what tourists and even other locals are interested in. I’m so glad that the article has helped you make a plan for your business! Thanks for your comments.

A week ago, a long time friend finally gave into my requests and consented to visit my small desert town from her coastal home in San Diego.
Before she arrived I found my drives around town had me working to see through her eyes. What would she think of this place I call home. What sites would please her?
You are correct, it is difficult after you been in a place for some time to see things from another’s perspective.
As it turned out she loved St. George and is planning a return, soon.

Isn’t it amazing how differently we look at a place that is so familiar to us when we try to put a fresh perspective on it. Things that may initially seem mundane suddenly look fascinating. Is your St George the one in Utah? I’m planning on spending some time there myself pretty soon! Thanks for your comments, always appreciated.

Thanks Anne. I have been looking for ideas for my next photobook and Hometown is the answer to my prayers. Living in Sydney with beaches, that bridge, the old Rocks area, the harbour [also think ferry ride], plus the cityscape and “voila”, there’s my photobook. [One book might might not be enough. Now I am thinking two books. One could be nature and a second could be “man made”.] First a plan, then to start next week. John.

Hi John, excellent!! I’m glad my post gave you the inspiration you were looking for. Sydney is an amazing place – I feel like I know it somewhat even though I’ve never been there. I’m sure a photobook highlighting it’s most beautiful and interesting features will be a hit. Good luck!

Wonderful! Your photos are excellent! I’ve had many “hometowns”, but all before I was a photographer and well before I rediscovered my love of writing. I also do a blog – please visit and subscribe! – and have been reading yours for some time. I find your photos and tips to be quite inspiring and now, because of this one, I will certainly focus more on the area I am calling home these days. I’ve written a few posts about it, but not nearly enough. http://www.thelensandpen.com

Hi Nancy, great domain name! I like the “lens and pen” – the tools we use in our creative pursuits! I really enjoyed visiting your blog, especially the post on Jekyll Island, which was one of my favourite spots on our whole trip when we went around North America a few years ago. The glass floats are gorgeous. Thanks for your visit and comments!

Full-timers for 16 years!!! Woo hoo! Good for you! Ray and I are going to hit 5 years in a couple of months. I can’t imagine living any other way. I’m glad you got to spend such a good amount of time on Vancouver Island. It truly is a beautiful part of the world (especially in summer). Thanks for your comments!

Hi Anne
Thank you for the two great articles on Animals and Great Subjects. This idea helps to fill the void of missing PF! I and I am sure others appreciate your continued time and knowledge. I wish you well in your continuing endeavors. Will continue to follow your Blog and whatever else you treat us to. All this information and ideas are wonderful.
Regards and thanks again

Hi Gordon, yes, now with PF being closed I have more time to work on my blog and get going on some of my backlog of images. I’m still enjoying my “down time” and being able to be without internet for longer periods of time – which translates into locations off the beaten path. But I’ll have some new courses and ebooks coming out soon! Thanks for your visit and comments, always appreciated.

So why not get your readers to submit ONE photo that best represents “sense of place” in their hometown. You could work some of these pics into the ebook. Readers get a credit and a free ebook and you get a great variety of hometown travel pics for the ebook.

Anne, thanks for sharing these wonderful shots from my birthplace. I get to frequently visit Victoria and other parts of Vancouver Island even though I now live in Melbourne, Australia. These photos really brought back some wonderful memories. I particularly love the BC Parliament Buildings at night. We used to tie up our sailboat there for a few days and enjoy this great little city that is more British than England.

Hi Don, thank you so much for your wonderful comments, I’m so glad I did your hometown justice! I was actually born in Nanaimo, but I lived in Victoria for so long it feels like home. I used to take my boat to the inner harbour marina too! It’s always fun to moor it down there for a few days and enjoy downtown. I really appreciate your comments!

Hi Anne!
Just discovered you, your tutorials, e-books, blog, etc., this morning. My end of winter stagnant mind has been jostled into life on this winter isn’t quite gone grey and chilly morning.

You are living the life I have dreamed about for some time- living in an RV and being a photographer and writer. Obviously it is doable. I refer to myself as having a gypsy state of mind. My dream is reawakened and I’ve shared your page with a friend who shares a similar dream.

Thank you for starting my Saturday morning on a good note. And thank you for the very useful photography information. Add me to your list of followers.

Dear Anne
Your photos bring back happy memories of visits to Victoria. I must have missed a good number of great shots.
But one Sunday evening my wife and I took the ferry from Sidney to Anacortes. On that trip we got the most amazing sunset that we can remember. It was in the days of film – and we used a few rolls!
I live in Rochester – the Rochester – where my wife teaches part time at the local school, founded in 604 (not 1964). There is a lot of history – but it is ignored photographically.

Hi Daniel, I’m glad to hear you enjoyed your trip to Victoria, it’s a beautiful city. I really encourage you to get out and photograph Rochester. With all that history there must be some amazing things to photograph there.

Hi Anne,
Thanks for your great articles,verg gold informatieontsluiting and iDeal.
I live in the north of Holland in district Friesland in the place Dokkum,
naar the beatiful Waddenzee.
I am still enjoying to go to the Wadden coasters to make images so different.
By low and high tijde,Evert time jou go iT is so different.The wether calm or stormy.
Sun or cloudy.the Waddenzee is betweetster the coasters and the ilands
Ameland and Schiermonnikoog and other ilands all along the coasters.
IT is like jour iDeal,go offen to the same place is a bood adviseur.
IT is bear the litteken villadge Peasens and Moddergat ,for me the most beatiful place.
I die jou Sen a foto by maile.
Thank jou so much for all the advices and informatieontsluiting.
Have a verg good tryp and i Will follow jou. Of jou like i Will mail jou more images grom over there.
All the best. Jacobus. Jy.vdgang@knid.nl

I live in Pretoria, South Africa. We have an awesome city, rich in history. The sad part is venturing anywhere on your own to take photos, is not always safe. I love street photography and our inner city has such an African feel to it with a mix of modern and older. Our suburban areas are equally beautiful, and there photos can be taken with greater safety. Your article has given me a plan (and more determination) to get into those parts where we Africans really ‘live’ and capture our people in all their glory.
Keep the articles coming, I look forward to them with great anticipation.
Regards Donna

Hi Donna, I have always wanted to visit South Africa! I can appreciate though that it’s hard to photograph on your own in places that are unsafe. I hope you have a group of fellow photographers that you can go on photo shoots with. I’m sure it’s much better to travel and photograph in a group. Being a photographer is especially difficult in a city because we’re so focussed on what we’re doing, and often looking through our viewfinders, so it’s harder to be aware of what is happening around you. I’m glad you enjoyed the tutorial, thanks for your comments.

Hi Anne – your website and tutorials are my favourite on the web. Thank you once again for your excellent presentation. The article on “hometowns” has inspired me to look again and consider how to capture “the essence of our friendly town” a predominate feature of living in Almonte Ontario. It is definitely something I plan to work on.

Hi Laurette, I’m so glad you enjoyed the tutorial! Often we think that we have to travel to exotic locations to get great photos, but great photos can be had anywhere. I still like to travel to exotic locations! But I don’t think its necessary for making great images.

Hello Anne I live in Bairnsdale Australia about 4 hours east of Don who I have been privileged to meet. I have never taken one photo of the City of Bairnsdale except the station in the five years we have been here. Well that is about to change. I have taken many photos around this region which is rich in photographic material and I guess I have not looked closely enough at my home town. Mean while I have been following your enjoyable newsletters for some time and have picked up some very useful tips and inspirational ideas. Oh how I wish we had taken the opportunity to visit Canada and BC when we had the chance. Something I will always regret.

Hi Ron, isn’t that always the way? Somehow the places that are close to us seem less interesting than the far away more exotic places, but there is always a lot to photograph right where you are. People probably travel from all over the world to get to where you are! I’m glad to hear you are enjoying the tutorials and posts. Thanks for your visit and comments.

Hi Anne. Thanks a lot for this inspiring article and your wonderful photos. ( I’ve been once in Victoria it was so beautiful )
Question : You mentioned many different themes that could be utilized. ( City Center, Haunts, Locals etc ) Is-it better to choose one and concentrate more deeply on it or could we combine different themes in one series ?
Claude, Sherbrooke QC

Hi Claude, I would try concentrating on one theme at a time. I often find that when I put some kind of limitation on what I am looking for, I see things I might not otherwise have noticed. For example, sometimes I just pick a colour and only photograph things that are that particular colour. I always notice things I have walked past before and never noticed!

Hi Anne I have just been reading through the old comments. With things the way they are in the world today we are limited to going out only for essentials which means opportunities for outdoor photography are virtually none outside our property. How I am itching to go for a decent drive again as we love travelling around. It is for the best i guess until this is all over. Meanwhile keep safe and stay well. Ron Bairnsdale Australia.

Hi Ron, I completely understand! But maybe you will look at things in your yard or in your house a new way and think of how you can make them interesting in a photograph. It will be nice when the spring flowers start to come out. Oh, but you’re in Australia so I guess you have fall leaves coming. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy!

Ahhh. Euphoric recall. Captured ALL examples (and then some), in this article.
Did a 6 week home exchange in 2018 in Victoria, BC. Fondest of memories. 3rd exchange in Canada.
Went upcountry as well.
Great article.

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I’m Anne. This is my new life.

I traded in a traditional career for a new life as an outdoor photographer and writer. I live in an RV and travel around North America photographing beautiful places. I write about travel, photography, and how changing your life is not as scary as it seems. Read More…

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